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Ethel Kennedy, center, the wife of U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, shares a moment with Tennessean editor John Seigenthaler at Berry Field on May 27, 1962. Kennedy stopped in Nashville en route to Cullman, Ala., to deliver a commencement address to the all-male graduating class at St. Bernard College. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, left, jokes with former administrative assistant John Seigenthaler, right, after arriving in Nashville on June 29, 1962. Kennedy was in town for a one-day visit to meet with U.S. attorneys about corruption of local law enforcement officers. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, left, jokes with former assistant John Seigenthaler, right, after arriving in Nashville on June 29, 1962. Looking on is Amon Carter Evans, center, publisher of The Tennessean. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Wayne Whitt, left, John Seigenthaler and Nat Caldwell, right, of The Tennessean talk with Louis Lyons, second from right, curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, on Jan. 22, 1963. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Mrs. Tom Little, left — with Frank Grisham, director of Joint University Library, and John Seigenthaler, publisher of The Tennessean — looks at some of the 5,000 editorial cartoons by the late Tom Little on May 4, 1963. All of them were published in The Tennessean, and all were presented to the JUL at Vanderbilt for researchers' use. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Tennessean editor John Seigenthaler, center, with wife Dolores, right, and friend John Jay Hooker, left, waits for the start of opening night of the Holiday on Ice Revue of 1964 on Aug. 22, 1963, at Municipal Auditorium. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Amon Carter Evans, left, publisher of The Tennessean, expresses pleasure at a citation presented to him and his newspaper on behalf of the American Red Cross by J.C. Baxter, center, executive committee member and assistant treasurer of the Davidson County chapter, on Oct. 18, 1963. Looking on is Tennessean editor John Seigenthaler. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, right, editor of The Tennessean, points out a feature in a special section celebrating David Lipscomb College's 75th anniversary on Oct. 8, 1966. Looking at the first issue to roll off the presses are G.W. Churchill, left, editor of the section; Lipscomb Vice President Willard Collins; Athens Clay Pullias, president of the school; James Armistead, vice president and advertising director of Newspaper Printing Corp.; and Pete Wright, assistant advertising director. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Presidential hopeful Sen. Robert Kennedy, left, chats with Tennessean Editor John Seigenthaler, center, after arriving at the Metro Airport on March 21, 1968. Seigenthaler was an administrative assistant when Kennedy was the U.S. attorney general. Kennedy was in town for the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Presidential hopeful Sen. Robert Kennedy, second from left, poses with Tennessean Editor John Seigenthaler, left, Seigenthaler's wife, Dolores, and son John Michael on March 21, 1968, at Vanderbilt University. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Tennessean Publisher John Seigenthaler, right, points out the intricacies of the Goss Press, used to print the newspaper, to a group of Nashville teachers who attended the Newspapers in the Classroom clinic sponsored by The Tennessean on March 10, 1973. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Sara Rawdon, right, of The Tennessean staff pins a carnation on Clark Mollenhoff, speaker at the newspaper's Three-Star Forum banquet June 1, 1973. With them before the opening of the 34th annual banquet are Lloyd Armour, left, executive editor; John Seigenthaler, publisher; and Allen Pettus, vice president. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, publisher of The Tennessean, speaks while Republican National Finance Committee Chairman David K. Wilson listens during the Robert A. Taft Institute of Government program June 15, 1973, at the University of Tennessee-Nashville. The talks and questions mainly covered Watergate. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Dr. Avery Leiserson, left, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, and John Seigenthaler, publisher of The Tennessean, discuss the implications of Watergate on a WPLN-FM radio program Aug. 22, 1973. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

WPLN-FM radio program host Pat Nolan, left, talks with Dr. Avery Leiserson, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, and John Seigenthaler, publisher of The Tennessean, after their discussion of the implications of Watergate Aug. 22, 1973. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Jim Blevins, right, president of Big Brothers of Nashville, presents a "scroll" to John Seigenthaler, publisher of The Tennessean, recognizing the newspaper's "cooperation in the compilation, printing and distribution" of more than 6 million tabloid papers during the previous 61 years during a planning session for the 1973 tabloid sale at the Hilton Airport Inn on Oct. 10, 1973. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Tennessean publisher John Seigenthaler, left, and his wife, Dolores, enjoy the evening during the Tennessean's Alley Cat Party after wrapping up the ninth annual Music City USA Pro-Celebrity golf tournament on Oct. 14, 1973. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, publisher of The Tennessean; Jack Stapp, president of Tree International Publishing Co.; and Charlie Adams, West Coast executive, watch the action on the final day of the ninth annual Music City USA Pro-Celebrity golf tournament Oct. 14, 1973, at Harpeth Hills Golf Course. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

James H. Armistead, center, retiring associate publisher of the Nashville Banner, laughs with Wayne Sargent, left, publisher of the Banner, and John Seigenthaler, publisher of The Tennessean, during a retirement luncheon Oct. 26, 1973, at Richland Country Club. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, right, master of ceremonies at the fifth annual Nashville Book and Authors Dinner, greets the three authors who appeared at the event Oct. 29, 1973: Garson Kanin, left, Jimmy Breslin and Erma Bombeck. The event at the downtown Sheraton was sponsored by the Nashville Booksellers Association and The Tennessean. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, front center, editor of The Tennessean, and his wife, Dolores, front left, look on during the premiere of the movie "Nashville" on Aug. 8, 1975, at the Martin 100 Oaks Theater. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Ed Cramer, left, president of BMI, and Frances Preston, third from left, vice president of BMI in Nashville, greet John Seigenthaler, third from right, and his wife, Dolores, second from right, as they attend the gala BMI Awards dinner at the performing rights society's Music Square East headquarters Oct. 17, 1978. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Gov. Lamar Alexander, right, and his wife Honey, second from left, welcome John Seigenthaler, left, president and publisher of The Tennessean, and George Whitley, president of the Tennessee Press Association, to a reception for the TPA at the governor's mansion Jan. 22, 1986. Kathleen Smith / The Tennessean

Country music legend Johnny Cash, left, greets John Seigenthaler before The Tennessean publisher received the annual Johnny Cash Americanism Award at the Anti-Defamation League's testimonial dinner June 16, 1990, at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel. Bill Steber / The Tennessean

Singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall, left, parodies the high school file of John Seigenthaler at a Father Ryan High School benefit gala April 13, 1991. Seigenthaler, a 1945 graduate of the school, was the guest of honor. Freeman Ramsey / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center and chairman emeritus of The Tennessean, gets a hug from U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, after receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU on Nov. 8, 1998. The men's association dates to 1961, when Lewis, a young Freedom Rider, and Seigenthaler, then with the Justice Department, were beaten. Michael Clancy / The Tennessean

Robert Redford, center, receives his Lifetime Achievement Award from Brian Gordon, left, executive director of the Nashville Independent Film Festival, and John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, on June 2, 2001. John Partipilo / Tennessean

Tennessean Chairman Emeritus John Seigenthaler speaks to a large crowd at the Freedom Forum after a $2 million scholarship endowment was presented in his name Aug. 27, 2001. The scholarship will provide full tuition for one minority student interested in a journalism career each year. Freeman Ramsey / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, greets Aubrey and Carlana Harwell as they arrive at the WNPT studio for the tribute to Seigenthaler's 30 years of "Words on Words" on April 25, 2002. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, nationally acclaimed newspaper editor and First Amendment advocate, had the First Amendment Center named after him by Vanderbilt University on July 26, 2002. Nicholas Zeppos, right, Vanderbilt provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Charles Overby, center, chairman and CEO of the Freedom Forum, made the announcement. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Country music legend Johnny Cash, right, receives the Spirit of Americana Free Speech Award from John Seigenthaler, presented by the American Music Association and the First Amendment Center during the annual AMA awards show Sept. 13, 2002, at the downtown Hilton. Bill Steber / The Tennessean

Alice Randall, left, Journey Johnson, David Ewing and John Seigenthaler attend a reception for The Tennessean's new editor, E. J. Mitchell, on Jan. 18, 2005, at the Freedom Forum. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler chats with Mary Ann Riggins after signing a copy of his book "James K. Polk," of the American Presidents series, before a banquet for the fourth annual Clarksville Writers' Conference on July 11, 2008. Beth Liggett Cogbill / The Leaf-Chronicle

John Seigenthaler, left, and author John Irving mingle before an awards dinner at the Nashville Public Library Literary Awards Gala on Nov. 8, 2008, at the downtown library. Andrew McMurtrie / For The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Martha Cooper talk at the fifth annual Davidson County Democratic Party Honors Dinner on Aug. 1, 2009, at the Hutton Hotel. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Former Tennessean publisher and editor John Seigenthaler, left, speaks on behalf of Gaile Owens during her parole hearing Sept. 7, 2011, at the Tennessee Prison for Women. Owens was convicted in 1986 of hiring a man to kill her husband, who she later said had physically and sexually abused her. Shelley Mays / The Tennessean

Former Tennessean publisher and editor John Seigenthaler, left, hugs Stephen Owens after the parole hearing for his mother, Gaile Owens, on Sept. 7, 2011, at the Tennessee Prison for Women. Shelley Mays / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler speaks before a discussion with former city officials who gathered to reflect on the history of Metro government after 50 years, and its growing pains, on Aug. 15, 2012. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, right, is honored with the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award during a Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee luncheon Nov. 8, 2012, at the Renaissance Hotel. U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, second from right, spoke at the event. Seigenthaler's wife, Dolores, and son, John, joined them onstage. Steven S. Harman / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler speaks after being honored with the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award during a Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee luncheon Nov. 8, 2012, at the Renaissance Hotel. Steven S. Harman / Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia talk at a Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee luncheon Nov. 8, 2012, at the Renaissance Hotel. Seigenthaler was honored with the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award. Steven S. Harman / Tennessean

Mayor Karl Dean, right, enjoys the first piece of cake at Metro Nashville's 50th anniversary cake-cutting ceremony with state Sen. Thelma Harper and John Seigenthaler on April 1, 2013. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, right, who was inducted into the 2013 Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame at MTSU on April 26, 2013, talks to other inductees before the program begins. With him are Bill Williams, left, Anne Holt and Chris Clark. Helen Comer / DNJ

John Seigenthaler, the founder of the First Amendment Center, listens as he is inducted into the 2013 Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame at MTSU on April 26, 2013. Karen Miller, widow of Dan Miller, former chief news anchor for Channel 4, sits beside Seigenthaler after accepting the award for her late husband. Helen Comer / DNJ

MTSU's Larry L. Burriss, right, presents John Seigenthaler, the founder of the First Amendment Center, with an award as he is inducted into the 2013 Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame at MTSU on April 26, 2013. Helen Comer / DNJ

Former Tennessee football coach Johnny Majors, right, laughs as he and John Seigenthaler, left, tell old stories after Majors announced he has given his papers and other memorabilia chronicling his life to the Tennessee State Library and Archives on Aug. 12, 2013, in Nashville. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

As the keynote speaker at the Murfreesboro NAACP Branch Martin Luther King Jr. annual breakfast, John Seigenthaler talks about his work with King in the early years of the civil rights movement Jan. 18, 2014, at the Stones River Country Club. Helen Comer / DNJ

John Seigenthaler, center, who was the keynote speaker at the Murfreesboro NAACP Branch Martin Luther King Jr. annual breakfast, signs a program for the Rev. Kenny Williams, left, president of the Murfreesboro NAACP branch, as Ernest Newsom opens his program to have it signed Jan. 18, 2014, at the Stones River Country Club. Helen Comer / DNJ

John Seigenthaler recounts the time in 1954 when he locked his legs around the railing on the Shelby Street Bridge and grabbed a man who was threatening to kill himself on Feb. 14, 2014. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

John Seigenthaler, left, and author Keel Hunt take part in a panel discussion April 17, 2014, on the 1979 "Clash for Clemency" scandal as part of the Windham Lecture in Liberal Arts series at Middle Tennessee State University. Hunt wrote a book about the scandal. John A. Gillis / DNJ

More than 200 white men with clubs converged on the Greyhound station spewing curse words and hatred as two hours of violence met Nashville's Freedom Riders in Alabama in May 1961.

John Seigenthaler, a 33-year-old former Tennessean reporter who was working as an administrative assistant to U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, drove through a mass of bystanders toward the mob, alert to the danger ahead.

Seigenthaler had traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery in a rental car with Justice Department attorney John Doar.

The two drove behind a bus carrying students from Nashville's Fisk University and Peabody College, young advocates for equality set to join the Freedom Rides.

State troopers followed along for protection. Helicopters flew overhead. Men with guns lined the roadside.

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Tennessean Publisher John Seigenthaler reads over the day's paper May 13, 1982, in his office at 1100 Broadway.(Photo11: Bill Welch / The Tennessean)

As the two men finally approached the Greyhound station, they were slightly behind the caravan. With their car windows rolled down, they could hear the screaming.

"A teeming anthill of violence," Seigenthaler called it later.

"These kids were just getting the hell beat out of them," he said. "The screams and shouts — you've never heard anything like it."

Seigenthaler jumped out of the car and rushed down the sidewalk, hoping to help a young white woman as she was hit in the face, bleeding from the mouth.

Aggressors kicked Seigenthaler in the ribs and cracked his head with a lead pipe, knocking him out. For 25 minutes he lay there, in the middle of passing traffic, unassisted by authorities.

He regained consciousness in a police car on the way to the hospital, the white shirt he borrowed from Doar that morning covered in blood.

He began his journalism career during the first hints of the movement to secure civil rights for black Americans. He reached the pinnacle as a champion for the oppressed and the leader of a newspaper that would carry forth his mission to right the wrongs in the community.

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As Tennessean editor, John Seigenthaler led coverage of the civil rights movement when most Southern newspapers ignored it and exposed corruption in the Teamsters union and illicit activities of the Ku Klux Klan. “I just can’t think of anything I could have done with my life that would have been more meaningful” than journalism, he said.(Photo11: File / The Tennessean)

"The Tennessean reported with the understanding that there were injustices in society, that not everyone was treated the same and that not everyone had the same opportunity," says former Tennessean reporter John Haile, who started at the newspaper as a Vanderbilt University student in 1966.

"It was our job to explain the evil of injustice, the harm it causes, what it does to our community — and what you could do to make it right.

"That was different than a lot of newspapers at the time, and that came from John."

Few movements in history persevere without news coverage. The media's role in bringing the civil rights movement to light helped the nation continue its progress toward equality.

"It would not have been possible for the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century to be effective were it not for the media," says Terri Freeman, president of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. "And I don’t think any movements going forward would be effective without the media.

Grace McKinley, left, sobs as Nashville Patrolman E.D. Searcy takes her in custody on a charge of disorderly conduct and carrying a knife during disturbances on the first day of desegregation at a school in North Nashville on Sept. 9, 1957. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Erroll Groves, second from right, with his mother, Iridella Groves, right, and other family members walk to Buena Vista School on Sept. 9, 1957. Fifteen black first-graders entered schools and desegregation was established in Nashville. Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

Erroll Groves, second from left, with his mother, Iridella Groves, left, and other family members walk up to the doors of Buena Vista School on the first day of school Sept. 9, 1957. Fifteen black first-graders entered schools and desegregation was established in Nashville. Copyright 2007 Yes Tennessean

First-graders sit quietly in a classroom at Glenn Elementary School as the school begins its term Sept. 9, 1957. Holding a school satchel is 6-year-old Jacquelyn Faye Griffith, one of two black children integrated into the school. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Harry Robb shows a letter Sept. 9, 1957, that his family received from a Ku Klux Klan member about his granddaughter Era May Bailey's enrollment in the all-white Bailey School. The letter threatened a cross-burning if the family did not move. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Nashville police Sgt. John Irwin, center, and two other officers search for clues after a dynamite blast tore a huge hole in a wall at Hattie Cotton Elementary School on Sept. 10, 1957. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

G.H. Akin, center, peers from the back of the paddy wagon before he was taken into city court after his arrest for disorderly conduct Sept. 10, 1957. Nashville police clamped down on segregationist demonstrations by hauling 19 other demonstrators to jail on the second day of school. Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

Black students, including John Hardy, left, and Curtis Murphy, sit as a closed sign went up immediately when they attempted to get served at the lunch counter of Walgreen's drugstore on Fifth Avenue and Arcade in downtown Nashville on Feb. 20, 1960. Luther Harris, a Fisk student who acted as spokesman for the group, said it was the first effort in the South to desegregate drugstore facilities. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Several white men, left, attempt to drag black students from the lunch counter where they staged a sit-down against segregation in the downtown Woolworth's store Feb. 27, 1960. Police marched into three variety stores and arrested 73 students, most of them seeking lunch counter integration. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Black demonstrators, including John Lewis, center in light suit, are hustled out of McLellans Variety Store on Fifth Avenue North in downtown Nashville and off to jail after a four-hour demonstration against lunch counter segregation Feb. 27, 1960. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Black demonstrators, including Kenneth Frazier and John Lewis, center, stage a sit-in at the closed counter of the downtown Woolworth's store as Nashville officers move in Feb. 27, 1960. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Hundreds jam the sidewalks outside Nashville city court Feb. 29, 1960, where black and white students were being tried on charges stemming from lunch counter demonstrations at five downtown stores. Many in the crowd sang spirituals as they awaited news of the trials. Police estimated the crowd at 2,000. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

The Rev. James W. Lawson Jr. addresses a crowd at Gordon Memorial Methodist Church on Herman Street in a meeting on the lunch counter sit-ins March 7, 1960. Lawson, who studied Gandhi's techniques in Nagpur, India, conducted workshops on nonviolent strategy to aid Nashville students in ending segregation at the lunch counters. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Matthew Walker, left, Peggy Alexander, Diane Nash and Stanley Hemphill eat lunch at the previously segregated counter of the Post House Restaurant in the Greyhound bus terminal March 16, 1960. This marked the first time since the start of the sit-in that blacks were served at previously all-white counters in Nashville. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Robert Glennon, 17, second from left, is led to a police car moments after Nashville police arrested him for attacking Marion Barry, a Fisk University sit-in demonstrator, April 12, 1960. Traffic Officer Fred Cobb, left, holds on to Glennon after catching him with a flying tackle. Cobb gets a hand from Traffic Officer Earl Cullum, second from right, and Patrolman M. Q. Dickens. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Silhouetted against disaster, John Thomas Martin wields his broom, sweeping up the fragments of glass from shattered windows in the Meharry Medical College Alumni building April 19, 1960. In the background, a curious crowd gathers at the bombed home of Z. Alexander Looby, which shattered 147 windows at the college. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Black leaders march down Jefferson Street at the head of a group of 3,000 demonstrators April 19, 1960. They were headed toward City Hall on the day of the Z. Alexander Looby bombing. In the first row are the Rev. C.T. Vivian, left, Diane Nash of Fisk and Bernard Lafayette of American Baptist Seminary. In the second row are Kenneth Frazier and Curtis Murphy of Tennessee A&I and Rodney Powell of Meharry. Using his handkerchief in the third row is the Rev. James Lawson, one of the advisers to the students. News reporters believed it marked the first time Lawson had participated in a demonstration downtown. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

A line of black college demonstrators wends its way around the courthouse area, coming out from Jefferson Street and James Robertson Boulevard, on April 19, 1960. The line of students, marching three abreast, stretched 10 blocks. Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

Nashville Mayor Ben West, second from right, tells a crowd of black demonstrators April 19, 1960, that he intends to uphold the law but that he also feels lunch counter segregation is unjust. The Rev. C.T. Vivian, at West's left, read a statement critical of the mayor and then debated with West. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Nashville City Councilman Z. Alexander Looby, his home bombed the night before, collapses weeping in a chair as he receives a prolonged ovation April 20, 1960, from the crowd at a rally that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Standing behind Looby is the Rev. Andrew White. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Under the watchful eyes of the Davidson County sheriff, a father leads his two sons into Mt. View Elementary School during the first day of desegregation of the formerly all-white county school Jan. 23, 1961. Thirty-nine black children enrolled in 10 formerly all-white Davidson County schools. There was no disturbance as the county desegregated the first four grades in accordance with a plan approved by Federal Judge William E. Miller. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Black students begin to sing as they wait to load up in Nashville police wagons after being arrested for blocking a fire exit at the Tennessee Theater downtown Feb. 20, 1961. In the group are Lester McKinnie, center in white cap, and John Lewis, right. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Black college students, including Lester McKinnie, right, greet one another after being put into a Nashville police wagon in front of the Tennessee Theater. The demonstrators allegedly blocked a fire exit and refused to move when ordered to do so by a city fire inspector Feb. 20, 1961. Twenty-eight demonstrators were arrested and charged with violating a section of the city code relating to fire exits. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

A small group of demonstrators, mostly black college students, try to gain admittance to the Tennessee Theater in downtown Nashville on Feb. 21, 1961. Aiding the students is the Rev. James Lawson, third from right. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

John Lewis, second from right, leads some of the 123 anti-segregation demonstrators past the Paramount theater as they marched through downtown Nashville during a 75-minute stand-in at four Church Street theaters Feb. 24, 1961. The white female student in the group is Salynn McCollum. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Rocks and eggs were thrown at some 123 anti-segregation demonstrators as they marched through downtown Nashville during a 75-minute stand-in at four Church Street theaters, including the Paramount here, Feb. 24, 1961. A band of about 70 white boys pitched the rocks and eggs, but no one was reported seriously hurt. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Lucretia Collins, left, who made bond and was released from a Jackson, Miss., jail to return to Nashville and graduate from Tennessee A & I State University on May 28, 1961, gets a hug from a classmate, Yvonne N. Bryant of Nashville. Collins was one of 17 Freedom Riders who were arrested and jailed in two separate incidents in Jackson's bus station waiting rooms. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Some of the seven blacks arrested after a racial clash with a group of white youths as they picketed an H.G. Hill store face the judge in Nashville City Court on Aug. 7, 1961. Diane Nash, center, a leader in the demonstration, said she preferred to stay in jail because "it's ridiculous when the police arrest the innocent party." Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

Demonstrators sing in front of the Nashville Police Department on Aug. 7, 1961, as they protest what they called police brutality in a racial clash two nights earlier. They criticized "inadequate" police protection and called for qualified black personnel to "replace incompetent officers on the police force." Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

A group of demonstrators tried to see Gov. Buford Ellington on Sept. 8, 1961, to seek reinstatement of 14 Freedom Riders dismissed from Tennessee A & I State University in June after their convictions on breach of peace charges in Jackson, Miss. The group, including John Lewis, right, waited outside the governor's office, but Ellington left his office by a side door and didn't see the protesters. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

A small group pickets Sept. 25, 1961, in front of the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, where Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington was in a conference. The group, with the Rev. James Lawson, front, is seeking reinstatement of the 14 Freedom Riders dismissed from Tennessee A & I State University in June. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

A Wilson-Quick Pharmacy official, center, attempts to talk with a small group of black and white students as they sing during their sit-in demonstration at the downtown store Jan. 6, 1962. One of the demonstrators is Catherine Burks, left. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

Two dozen black students, including John Lewis, sitting center, attempted to register at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, and when the hotel refused, they sat down in the lobby for the night Feb. 1, 1962. Several white men attending a party in the ballroom went to the balcony and shouted insults at the students. A couple of men tossed their drinks over the rail into the lobby below. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks before a news conference in Nashville on May 17, 1962. The integration leader chided President John F. Kennedy, saying he did not raise his voice to get the administration's literacy test bill passed in the Senate. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Tusculum firefighters, right, stand by to protect homes on either side of the burning home of the Rev. Cephus C. Coleman, center, a black minister. His home, which is in a predominantly white neighborhood, was destroyed by the third blaze to break out the night of Aug. 7, 1962. The Davidson County sheriff's chief investigator later said "arson is definitely the cause" of the fire. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Two employees of Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant, right, form a human barricade to block sit-in demonstrators, including local leader John Lewis, center, from entering the Church Street establishment Nov. 24, 1962. Nashville officers moved in quickly to quell a series of incidents throughout the two-hour sit-ins. Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

When Robert Talbert, center, emerged from Nashville jail on Public Square, a cheer went up among the demonstrators as they embraced him Nov. 24, 1962. Talbert, 21, a Fisk student from Jackson, Miss., was arrested for disorderly conduct during a sit-in demonstration near Wilson-Quick Pharmacy on Church Street. His bond was posted by other sit-in demonstrators, who marched on the police station. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

A little girl, left, watches in awe as Jan Emmert, a Fisk University student, lands behind her after he was shoved by Bobby Gene Taylor, a restaurant employee. The hassle came Dec. 1, 1962, during a sit-in attempt at the Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant on Church Street. Looking on are demonstrators Lester McKinnie, center, and the Rev. J. Metz Rollins, behind McKinnie. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Nashville Police lead away sit-in demonstrator Jan Emmert and restaurant employee Bobby Gene Taylor after they were arrested at the Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant on Church Street on Dec. 1, 1962. Both were released after posting $5 bond each. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

John Lewis, left, chairman of the local Non-Violent Committee, holds tightly onto his sign as a heckler reaches for him as Lewis and 12 other sit-in demonstrators try to get in the Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant on Church Street on Dec. 8, 1962. Behind Lewis is demonstrator Lester McKinnie. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Dr. David Kotelchuck, left, assistant professor of physics at Vanderbilt University and a member of a sit-in group, ducks as restaurant employee Bobby Gene Taylor swings at him during a demonstration in front of Herschel's Tic Toc restaurant on Church Street on Dec. 8, 1962. Nashville Police arrived a few minutes later and things simmered down. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

About 60 black and white demonstrators leave the First Baptist Church at Eighth Avenue North to march two-and-a-half blocks to protest the segregation policy of the YMCA building Feb. 24, 1963. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

A group of men, women and children gather in front of the downtown YMCA on Feb. 24, 1963, to protest segregation. This group is part of a crowd of about 60 who participated in the demonstration, led by the Nashville Christian Leadership Council. A couple of the student leaders are John Lewis, center on the right side, and Lester McKinnie, right. The group sang hymns and heard prayers from several of the demonstration's leaders. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Black demonstrators sing hymns as they unload from a Nashville police van after their arrest March 4, 1963, when the group staged a large-scale sit-in at the segregated Cross Keys Restaurant in downtown Nashville. It was the largest assault on downtown Nashville segregation since 1960. The group gained entrance to the restaurant, and officers arrested and dragged the demonstrators out after their orders to leave were refused. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Demonstrators March 23, 1963, to protest racial discrimination in Nashville. In the foreground at left, with the "Freedom March" sign, is John Lewis, chairman of the Student Central Committee of the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, sponsors of the movement. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Demonstrators march through the downtown area to picket businesses that practice racial discrimination March 30, 1963. There were about 60 participants in the "Freedom March," the second of its kind in Nashville in the past eight days. Some of the places they hit were the B&W Cafeteria, Cross Keys, Wilson-Quick Pharmacy, Harvey's and Cain-Sloan's. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Black church leaders and other demonstrators huddle under umbrellas as they participate in a "prayer vigil" at the Metro Courthouse on April 28, 1963. The group stood for an hour in the rain to petition local government leaders "to provide justice and equality for all Nashville citizens." Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

Black high school students join 600 demonstrators in downtown Nashville to demonstrate at restaurants, department stores and the Metro Courthouse on May 8, 1963. Principals of two black high schools said the students' absences would be recorded as "unexcused." Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

Metro police arrest a marcher and a downtown spectator after a scuffle developed during a demonstration May 8, 1963. Joseph Frank Tanksley, right, was cut after falling into a mirror beside Cross Keys Restaurant. Tanksley and Vencen Horsley, left, were charged with fighting and disorderly conduct. Lt. C.P. Lynch, center, was the arresting officer. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

Black demonstrators race back to the safety of First Baptist Church after daylong protest marches downtown May 8, 1963. One of the leaders of the demonstrators, the Rev. J. Metz Rollins, center, guided the protesters back home. After they returned from the final march, a group of about 30 white youths began throwing rocks and soft drink bottles. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

A black leader, center, tries to keep his group separated from a group of white youths near Cross Keys Restaurant downtown May 10, 1963. The black groups were holding sit-in demonstrations at the restaurant as well as the B & W Cafeteria. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

A black youth picks up Ewingella Bigham, 15, who was unconscious in the street, shortly after she was injured during a near-riot between white youths and black demonstrators May 10, 1963. Her sister, left, said the girl was struck with a patrolman's billy stick. She was taken to Hubbard Hospital. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

Louis Miller, 16, who was charged with throwing a brick that broke a car windshield, is put into the paddy wagon May 11, 1963, at First Baptist Church. Miller will be on his way to juvenile detention. City photographer Milton McClurkan is at right. Harold Lowe Jr. / The Tennessean

A white youth, at right, hurls a heavy board across Charlotte Avenue and others throw rocks at a group of black demonstrators headed for Sixth Avenue North to march in front of downtown cafeterias May 13, 1963. Eldred Reaney / The Tennessean

A group of Nashvillians board buses Aug. 27, 1963, at First Baptist Church downtown for a trip to Washington, D.C., for the "march for jobs and freedom." They were part of 200,000 who gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and heard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

About 150 people march silently from Watkins Park to the steps of the state Capitol on Sept. 18, 1963, as a gesture of sympathy for the families of the four girls killed in the Birmingham, Ala., church bombing. The march, sponsored by the Nashville branch of the NAACP, took place during the funeral services in Birmingham for three of the four victims. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Metro patrolman J. W. Vanatta wrestles civil rights demonstrator Lester McKinnie down to the ground on West End Avenue in front of Morrison's Cafeteria on April 27, 1964. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

Civil rights demonstrators sit in Metro jail April 27, 1964, as they wait to make bond. They are Lester McKinnie, left, a group leader; Allen Wolfe, a Vanderbilt student; William T. Barbee, a Scarritt student; and Frederick Leonard, a student at Tennessee A&I. McKinnie was subdued by police and was treated for injuries at General Hospital. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Fellow civil rights demonstrators carry an injured marcher after violence erupted when club-swinging police officers surged through the marchers on Church Street on April 28, 1964. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Metro police officers wrestle with demonstrator William Barbee, left, a student at Scarritt College, as they attempt to put him into the paddy wagon after his arrest on Church Street on April 28, 1964. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

A Metro police officer points his stick at John Lewis, left, one of the leaders of the civil rights demonstrators, at Morrison's Cafeteria on West End Avenue on April 29, 1964. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Metro police moved into the middle of West End Avenue, where civil rights demonstrators sat in the street with arms locked, and carried them to waiting patrol wagons April 29, 1964. The marchers were protesting the segregation of Morrison's Cafeteria, as the mass arrests came on the third straight day of racial demonstrations. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Two Metro police officers drag a civil rights demonstrator out of the middle of West End Avenue toward a police wagon April 29, 1964. He was one of 76 arrested when approximately 300 marchers sat down in the street in front of Morrison's Cafeteria. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

A Tic Toc Restaurant employee keeps an eye on one of the five groups of 25 demonstrators parading in front of the downtown store May 1, 1964. They marched in front of six segregated restaurants for two hours. Two of the marchers, John Lewis and Lewis Miller, were slightly injured during a scuffle in front of the store. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interpreted black power as the need of the black community to organize for political control in his speech at the Impact symposium at Vanderbilt University on April 8, 1967. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

Metro police officers and occupants of a car duck bullets, which were fired by rioters at the Tennessee State University campus April 9, 1967. Rock throwing escalated to gunfire as violence erupted, sending mobs and riot police swarming through North Nashville's black community. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

A Metro police officer, left, checks out a suspect near the Tennessee State University campus on Jefferson Street on April 9, 1967. Rock throwing escalated to gunfire as violence erupted, sending mobs and riot police swarming through North Nashville's black community. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

After marching peacefully from Fisk University, more than 200 demonstrators gather April 14, 1967, at the Metro Courthouse. There the speakers led the crowd in cheers for black power and condemned police actions in the recent rioting. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

A couple of friends check on Elvis Fleming, center, after he was wounded during a Metro police gunbattle April 4, 1968. Fleming and 13-year-old Anthony Webster were hurt when police were summoned to 22nd Avenue and Osage Street to check on a complaint that an armed person was threatening residents during rioting after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Metro Assistant Police Chief John Sorace, second from right, is helped into Saint Thomas Hospital's emergency room after an unmarked police car in which he was riding was bombarded by rocks from rioters on Centennial Boulevard on April 4, 1968. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

A Metro police officer shows the rock that smashed into the back window of his patrol car, which was in the North Nashville area just hours after the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

A Metro police officer holds one of the Molotov cocktails confiscated from six men who were taken into custody at 14th Avenue and Himes Street just hours after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

The armored personnel carriers of the Tennessee National Guard move in to seal off North Nashville after midnight April 5, 1968. The troops were called at the request of Metro Mayor Beverly Briley after rock throwing began about 8 p.m. and escalated into gunfire and scattered looting after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

An interfaith service at St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Nashville draws hundreds of Vanderbilt University students for a memorial service for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 5, 1968. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Outside the city hall and courthouse building, a black leader raises his hands for quiet as a crowd of 1,000 chants, "We want Briley." After many in the crowd attended memorial services for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., they gathered for Mayor Beverly Briley on April 5, 1968. He met with black leaders in his office but declined to address the crowd outside. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Dr. Ralph Abernathy, successor to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, stands at the top of the ramp as pallbearers lift the slain civil rights leader's casket aboard an Atlanta-bound plane April 5, 1968. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Tennessee A&I State University students line up in the hallway of their campus dorm as National Guardsmen and Metro police officers search them and their rooms in the early hours of April 6, 1968. They searched three campus dorms after police officers had been pinned behind a wall by gunfire. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

A packed house of 1,500 people pray during an interracial, interdenominational memorial service for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at Gordon Memorial Church in Nashville on April 7, 1968. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Metro firefighters lay out their hoses to start battling an out-of-control blaze at the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building on the campus of Tennessee A&I State University on April 7, 1968. Metro police said the fire was the apparent work of arsonists. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Getting ready for the silent march from Clayborn Temple to city hall in Memphis on April 8, 1968, are Yolanda King, left, Harry Belafonte, Martin Luther King III, Dexter King, Coretta Scott King and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy. Behind the widow is the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Freeman says reporters serve as "first responders" capturing photos and video and doing interviews with those on the front line.

"The role of the media in movement building is to bring an objective eye to the greater public who may not be in that particular place or may not be focused on that particular issue," Freeman says.

Immersed in the civil rights revolution, The Tennessean did that every step of the way, documenting a movement that was built in Nashville's fellowship halls and dorm rooms and was staged along its streets, at its department store lunch counters, and in its movie theaters and swimming pools.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly where Seigenthaler got his passion for the issue, but in interviews before he died he hinted at the opportunities he missed as a child.

His family had a black maid, he said, whom he remembered as practically being his "surrogate mother." But he never noticed that when they got on a bus together that she had to sit in the back.

"I grew up in that environment without seeing it," he told an audience at Lipscomb University in 2009, as later recounted in his obit. "I never saw the injustice of their lives."

A cub reporter correcting wrongs

By the time he became a reporter — hired by The Tennessean in 1949, after serving in the Air Force — he brought that passion for justice with him.

Early on, he was sent to Texas to find a Nashville man who had vanished 22 years earlier and had defrauded an insurance company.

Later, he was assigned to expose the cover-up of the murder in Camden, Tennessee, of a black sawmill worker named Owen Travis, who had been slain by a white taxi driver over an $8 cab bill. The stories forced an indictment, trial and conviction.

There was also an investigation into labor violence in Tennessee that resulted in exposure of corrupt actions by Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

When the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Brown v. Board of Education led to school desegregation, The Tennessean was one of the few papers in the South that supported the court.

As school integration sparked violence across the South, punctuated in Nashville with a bombing at Hattie Cotton elementary in 1957, Tennessean reporters were dispatched. In the coming years, Seigenthaler and his colleagues reported on the marches and sit-ins that would lead Nashville toward becoming the first city in the South to desegregate its lunch counters.

In 1959, after a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, Seigenthaler returned to Nashville and was promoted to assistant city editor, then city editor and special assignment reporter.

The Kennedy family influence

During that time, Seigenthaler also flirted with a career in politics. For two years, he moved in and out of The Tennessean newsroom,leaving to work with the Kennedy family in various positions and then returning. He served as Bobby Kennedy's administrative assistant in the U.S. Justice Department in 1961.

Both men shared progressive views in a segregated world where they lived comfortably, yet race riots and violence were becoming widespread around them.

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"The Tennessean was this crusading newspaper on all kinds of fronts, from corruption to Jimmy Hoffa to civil rights," says former Tennessean reporter John Haile. "… So it was not out of character for us to be a leader covering segregation. It was just understood." Haile covered racial unrest in Chattanooga, as well as the death of a black man shot for being out after curfew.(Photo11: Larry McCormack / Tennessean)

"It was Bobby Kennedy who drove the civil rights issues in that administration; it wasn’t John Kennedy. He was a cautious politician on civil rights," Haile says. "I'm not sure what influence John (Seigenthaler) had over Bobby or Bobby had over John, but there was something going on there."

It was at Kennedy's bidding that Seigenthaler was in Alabama in 1961 pleading with Gov. John Patterson for police protection against racial disturbances.

But it was his own decision to get out of his car to intervene in the violence that left him knocked unconscious by white separatists in Montgomery.

"It was an afternoon of terror," Seigenthaler told The Tennessean in an interview in 2011, "sheer terror."

Editor of a 'crusading newspaper'

The following spring of 1962 — at just 34 years old — Seigenthaler returned to The Tennessean as editor. He was a leader convinced that a newspaper could change the world, and he swept his reporters up in that sense of purpose.

Under his guidance, The Tennessean and its staff continued its crusade for civil rights.

When most Southern newspapers, including the rival Nashville Banner, ignored the growing resistance to racial segregation, Seigenthaler championed the coverage.

"The Tennessean was this crusading newspaper on all kinds of fronts, from corruption to Jimmy Hoffa to civil rights," Haile says. "… So it was not out of character for us to be a leader covering segregation.

"It was just understood. Everyone knew those were things that mattered to us."

National syndicated columnist Rowland Evans Jr., is speaking to an audience of more than 5,000 as the opening speaker of Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

National syndicated columnist Rowland Evans Jr., is explaining some of the problems President Lyndon B. Johnson is facing as the opening speaker of Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., left, and Andrew Young are listen to the speech of national syndicated columnist Rowland Evans Jr. who is the opening speaker of Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. King will be speaking after Evans. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

National syndicated columnist Rowland Evans Jr., is explaining some of the problems President Lyndon B. Johnson is facing as the opening speaker of Vanderbilt University's Impact symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

National syndicated columnist Rowland Evans Jr., is explaining some of the problems President Lyndon B. Johnson is facing as the opening speaker of Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., left, talks with an official as he waits to be introduced as the next speaker during the Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, center, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, claps for speaker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the first day of the two-day Impact Symposium event at Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym April 4, 1967. The next day, Carmichael will address the crowd. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said the nation "need a radical reordering of priorities" in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said the nation "need a radical reordering of priorities" in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said the U.S. needs "a radical reordering of priorities" in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he was "convinced" that the best route to a true integration was nonviolence in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he was "convinced" that the best route to a true integration was nonviolence in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he was "convinced" that the best route to a true integration was nonviolence in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said a "massive action program" will cost the nation to give blacks the same economic opportunity as the white man in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said a "massive action program" will cost the nation to give blacks the same economic opportunity as the white man in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said a "massive action program" will cost the nation to give blacks the same economic opportunity as the white man in his speech during Vanderbilt University's Impact Symposium at Memorial Gym April 7, 1967. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, center, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, meets with beat poet Allen Ginsberg, right, at the end of the first day of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 7, 1967. The next day, Ginsberg will read from his poetry, while Carmichael will speak. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, center, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, meets with beat poet Allen Ginsberg, right, at the end of the first day of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 7, 1967. The next day, Ginsberg will read from his poetry, while Carmichael will speak. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, speaks to the students at Tennessee State University April 7, 1967. Carmichael is in town to speak at the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, speaks to the students at Tennessee State University April 7, 1967. Carmichael is in town to speak at the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

An official with the Impact symposium, left, aids Stokely Carmichael as he arrives at Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym April 8, 1967 to speak on the second day of the event. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Eccentric "New Left" poet Allen Ginsberg waits to be introduce as the opening speaker for the second day of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Eccentric "New Left" poet Allen Ginsberg, with a couple of small cymbals, is opening his speech with an Oriental chant during the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

An estimated crowd of 4,500, filling the north side of Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym, listens to beat poet Allen Ginsberg gives the opening speech on the second day of the Impact Symposium April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

After the opening chant, poet Allen Ginsberg reads a selection of his poetry entitled: "Wichita Vortex Sutra," to the audience of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. The poem, telling of conflicts between the realities of this world and the "truths" of the world, centered on the Vietnam War. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, center, spares no names, from President Lyndon Johnson to Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi, as he assailed the war in Vietnam during his speech on the second day of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, in sunglasses, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, listens to the speech of eccentric poet Allen Ginsberg from the audience during the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

An estimated crowd of 4,500, filling the north side of Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym, listens to beat poet Allen Ginsberg gives the opening speech on the second day of the Impact symposium April 8, 1967. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg spares no names, from President Lyndon Johnson to Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi, as he assailed the war in Vietnam during his speech on the second day of the Impact symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg spares no names, from President Lyndon Johnson to Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi, as he assailed the war in Vietnam during his speech on the second day of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, left, spares no names, from President Lyndon Johnson to Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi, as he assailed the war in Vietnam during his speech on the second day of the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael checks over his notes as he waits to be introduce as the next speaker during the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, pours himself a glass of water before speaking during the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interpreted black power as the need of the black community to organize for political control in his speech at the Impact symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

An estimated crowd of 4,500, filling the north side of Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gym, are listening to the speech of Stokely Carmichael on the last day of the Impact Symposium April 8, 1967. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interpreted black power as the need of the black community to organize for political control in his speech at the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interpreted black power as the need of the black community to organize for political control in his speech at the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interpreted black power as the need of the black community to organize for political control in his speech at the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

Stokely Carmichael, the militant leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, interpreted black power as the need of the black community to organize for political control in his speech at the Impact Symposium at Vanderbilt University April 8, 1967. J.T. Phillips / The Tennessean

He sent them out again on the two spring nights that followed when race riots ripped through the city, punctuated by sporadic gunshots, persistent rock-throwing, scattered fires and tear gas.

"Fresh out of the new Kennedy administration, Seigenthaler remained the same fierce advocate for racial equality as he had been as a Justice Department official lying unconscious in a Montgomery street," former Tennessean reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim Squires wrote in his forthcoming book "Bearing Witness."

"Virtually every morning, The Tennessean preached fire and brimstone hell on the evils of segregation."

An editor who 'walked his talk'

Even deep into Seigenthaler's tenure, that never truly faded. And Seigenthaler never backed down.

In the 1970s, he sent Dwight Lewis, an African-American reporter, to cover a Ku Klux Klan rally in Nashville. He sent Haile to Chattanooga to cover racial unrest, and later to report the death of a black man shot for being out after curfew on a night when he was drinking beers with his buddies and watching a Braves game.

"Those things change your life and your outlook on everything," Haile says. "My job at the time was to make sure that Tennessean readers understood those situations."

Lewis remembers Seigenthaler assigning him three advance stories before the opening of the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery in November 1989.

Lewis interviewed Nashville Freedom Riders John Lewis and Jim Zwerg, both of whom were brutally beaten that 1961 day in Montgomery. He spoke to Mamie Till Mobley, the mother of murdered Mississippi teen Emmett Till, and connected with a daughter of Viola Liuzzo, the white housewife from Detroit who was killed by the KKK.

It was incredible to be documenting such history.

"But what was more important, in my opinion," Dwight Lewis recalls, "is that John flew down to Montgomery that Sunday morning of the dedication.

"I have always thought since then that showed he was a newspaper editor and publisher who walked his talk."

Seigenthaler retired as publisher, chairman and CEO of The Tennessean, and from USA TODAY, in 1991.

Life-changing moments for a journalist can change an entire society

There's a conversation, recounted on one of the walls at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, that captures an exchange between Seigenthaler and famed Freedom Rider Diane Nash.

At the time, Seigenthaler was trying to talk Nash out of organizing the trip to Montgomery, afraid for the safety of her and so many others.

"Young woman," Seigenthaler is quoted as saying. "Do you understand what you’re doing? Do you understand you’re gonna get somebody killed?"

Nash, after a pause, responded, "Sir, you should know we all signed our last wills and testaments last night."

From then on, Seigenthaler did what he could — in big ways and small — to make those lives matter.

"That’s the power of that statement," Freeman says, reflecting on the words emblazoned in white in the museum she oversees.

"For him to then say, 'This cause of civil rights is one I am going to continue to be in for the long haul.' Surely Diane Nash's words had a huge impact on him and how he looked at what was happening in the American South. I am sure in that instant he was changed."

Freeman doesn't see it as any different from media of today's civil rights movements. Journalists, she says, hear the pleas of people saying, "We can’t live like this any longer."

"Those are life-changing moments for the journalist — as much as they are moments that can change an entire society."

Reach Jessica Bliss at jbliss@tennessean.com or 615-259-8253 and on Twitter @jlbliss.

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